The Organic Trade Association (OTA) this weekend sought to discredit an article by The Washington Post that said managers of the federal organic program deliberately relaxed standards to grow the category to near $24 billion.

The July 3 article, “Purity of Federal ‘Organic’ Label Is Questioned,” also said that the U.S. Department of Agriculture inspector general's office is now investigating whether products bearing the agency’s green-and-white organic seal actually meet federal standards.

The article also said the inspector general’s office is scrutinizing the USDA’s oversight of its 97 accredited certifying agents (ACAs) to see how products are being determined as fit to carry the organic label.

A request for comment from the USDA’s National Organic Program, was not immediately returned.

The Post’s article blames the NOP, which administers federal organic guidelines and the use of the green-and-white organic seal, from being too easily swayed by lawyers and lobbyists of large, multinational companies interested in a piece of the food industry’s fastest growing category.

Such entities, the article said, were key to having language inserted into 2006 congressional legislation that paved the way for certain synthetic food substances to be used in the production of organic foods, which the article said created “conditions for a flood of processed organic foods.”

Questioning the future integrity of the organic seal, the article quoted organic advocate Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) to qualify the fears some have over lax standards and the potential erosion of the original intent of the nation’s organic laws.

"It will unravel everything we've done if the standards can no longer be trusted," said Leahy, who sponsored the first organics legislation nearly 20 years ago. "If we don't protect the brand, the organic label, the program is finished. It could disappear overnight."

But the Organic Trade Association said in a statement that the article “focused on old news and urban legends. The [WaPo] article also chose to reinforce rhetoric that is not only inaccurate but serves a narrow agenda whose motivations go unquestioned in the article.”

Accusations made in the article regarding the influence of lobbyists on organic regulations “are unfounded and reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of the process by which organic regulations are made,” OTA said.

“Contrary to what is implied here, there is a very specific process that materials must go through before they are permitted for inclusion in organic products,” the Greenfield, Mass.-based trade group said.

While the Washington Post article pointed out that in relation to the dynamics occurring among policy makers, food safety is not a concern, it did say that the NOP’s “shortcomings mean that consumers, who at times must pay twice as much for organic products, are not always getting what they expect: foods without pesticides and other chemicals, produced in a way that is gentle to the environment.”

OTA refuted that statement, saying “if this is what someone expects from food, his or her best bet is to purchase organic.”

To sum up its message, the Washington Post article quoted Joe Smillie, vice president of the nation’s largest organic certification agency, Quality Assurance International (QAI), who said adhering to a perfect organic standard was not realistic.

The article said QAI certifies 65 percent of all organic products found at retail.

"People are really hung up on regulations," Smillie told the Washington Post. “I say, 'Let's find a way to bend that one, because it's not important.' . . . What are we selling? Are we selling health food? No. Consumers, they expect organic food to be growing in a greenhouse on Pluto. Hello? We live in a polluted world. It isn't pure. We are doing the best we can."

OTA also pointed out that the USDA’s new deputy secretary of agriculture, Kathleen Merrigan, recently announced a “new era of equivalence and enforcement of organic standards.”

To read the OTA’s response to the WaPo article, click here.
To read the WaPo article in its entirety, click here.